Väri Riitta Paakki Quartet

• 1Azalea06:28
• 2Mahwah06:58
• 3Eat Swim Castle05:17
• 4Maple06:00
• 5Pennin valssi06:45
• 6Southwest05:53
• 7Siskolle08:11
• 8Pyörre04:18
• Total Runtime49:50

Info for Väri

Riitta Paakki Quartet's music is irresistibly effortless. The new album is inspired by nature, visual arts, music and places dear to composer Paakki. Her swinging and clear piano playing style meets Manuel Dunkel's powerful and nuanced saxophone sound, and the whole is completed by the bubbling rhythm section of Antti Lötjönen and Joonas Riippa. In the more up-tempo tunes you can hear echos of the bebop tradition, and the calmer compositions paint traditional Finnish landscapes.

Manuel Dunkel, saxophone
Riitta Paakki, piano
Antti Lötjönen, bass
Joonas Riippa, drums

Riitta Paakki
(b. 1971) began her studies in the Pop & Jazz Conservatory in Helsinki and got her Master’s Degree from the Sibelius Academy in 2002. She mentions Seppo Kantonen and Jukkis Uotila as her most influential teachers. After the Masters, she continued to doctoral studies. In her doctoral diploma work she studied the Blue Note era in the 60s and specifically pianist Herbie Hancock’s playing on saxophonist Wayne Shorter’s Speak No Evil album. In 2016 she became the first Finnish pianist to receive a Doctor’s Degree in jazz.

Paakki played for the first time in UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra soon after starting her studies at the Sibelius Academy. She quickly made her way to become an important member of many bands of her fellow students, and to lead her first own band, Riitta Paakki Trio. Her first album, self-titled Riitta Paakki Trio (Texicalli/Impala 2000) was noticed well both in Finland and Japan. Later she has released four more albums with her ensembles Riitta Paakki Trio and Riitta Paakki Quartet.

In addition to making her own music, Paakki teaches jazz piano in Sibelius Academy and in Ebeli, the pop-jazz department of Espoo music school.

Riitta Paakki Quartet’s music is irresistibly effortless. The music consists of Paakki’s lucid style of playing, Manuel Dunkel’s powerful and nuanced saxophone sound and a bubbly rhythm section formed by Antti Lötjönen and Joonas Riippa. Paakki’s most speedy compositions include sounds from the prestigious era of bebop, yet her calm ones paint a portrait of a typical melancholic Finnish landscape. The ensemble’s collaboration means total control of the situation and of the composition at hand. RPQ’s album Piste was a nominee for the Best Jazz Album of The Year 2020 at the Emma Awards (“Finnish Grammys”) and received a full five stars in the record review of Helsingin Sanomat. Paakki’s and Dunkel’s longtime collaboration and friendship makes the interaction fluent and captivating for the audience. In the concert you’ll hear wonderful compositions that give clear frames to the musicians’ art of improvising. RPQ will publish a new album, Väri in Spring 2023.

This album contains no booklet.